On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on the beleaguered FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, according to Food Safety News.

As anyone who has been following the bill knows, this is not an insignificant development. Reid has said on several occasions that he wanted to take up the bill by this or that date – most recently before the Senate recessed for elections – but has failed to schedule debate or a vote.

The bill has support from Democrats, Republicans, consumer advocates, and the food industry. However, Reid had to file cloture on the bill, because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) objected to an attempt to bring the bill to a vote under unanimous consent. Because of Coburn – who lodged his grievances with the bill only recently even though it cleared the committee stage in 2009 – the Senate will have to debate the bill and hold a procedural vote before passing it, a more time-consuming process.

As Food Safety News points out, the bill will have to compete with other priorities when the Senate returns:

Now the languishing measure may be one of the first bills up for consideration in November when Congress reconvenes after the election, although it will compete with a variety of high profile issues, including a defense authorization bill and whether to extend the Bush tax cuts. 

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act isn’t out of the woods yet, but this does provide some hope, and Reid was wise to make a move before the recess.